The slumps they went into occurred at the roughly the same time during the opening month of the season.

Beginning on Nov. 13, the Boston Celtics dropped three out of four games, including a pair at home. On Nov. 14, the San Antonio Spurs started a three-game losing streak with two of the defeats on their own court, dropping their record to 4-6.

Since going through those shaky stretches, though, the Celtics and Spurs have showed signs of coming around.

Both teams are riding five-game winning streaks, boosting the Celtics' record to 14-4 and the Spurs' mark to 9-6. Tonight, the teams that have gotten back on track in recent days get together at the AT&T Center (TNT, 8 p.m.).

The Celtics are continuing a four-game road trip that has been full of positives with wins over the Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats. In improving their road record to 7-1, the Celtics have held back-to-back opponents below 100 points after giving up at least 103 points in the previous three games.

Kevin Garnett continues to round into form at the offensive end, and Ray Allen regained his long-range shooting touch in the victory over the Bobcats.

The Celtics will be tested in the final portion of the road trip with games on back-to-back nights against the streaking Spurs and the improved Oklahoma City Thunder (9-8) on Friday night. Since losing to the Utah Jazz on Nov. 19, the Spurs have picked up wins over the Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers.

San Antonio was slowed by injuries in the opening weeks of the season with Manu Ginobili missing five games, Tony Parker sitting out four and Tim Duncan absent for a pair. The Spurs are also trying to get newcomers Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, rookie DeJuan Blair and Keith Bogans adapted to the system, which has caused some bumps in the early going.

Duncan is averaging a double-double (18.5 points, 10.8 rebounds) while Parker (16.5), Jefferson (13.9), Ginobili (13.5) and George Hill (11.3) are scoring in double figures for the Spurs, who have won eight of 10 home games.

The Celtics will be trying to win a fourth straight game in San Antonio after dropping 15 straight road games to the Spurs, a streak that began in 1990 and ended on March 17, 2007. Boston has won four of its last five overall meetings with the Spurs after going through an 18-game losing streak that dated back to 1997.

The last stop on the road trip is Oklahoma City where the Celtics won their debut last season, 96-83. The Thunder, formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics, look nothing like the team Allen left when he was traded to the Celtics in the summer of 2007.

Kevin Durant is among the league leaders, averaging 27.4 points per game, and Russell Westbrook is averaging 16.9 points, followed by Jeff Green (14.5).

Page 2 of 2 - The Celtics will have a three-day break following the road trip and have a rare Tuesday night home game against the Milwaukee Bucks next week. They will head back on the road after that for three games before having a three-game homestand prior to Christmas.